Welch: Supporters must still fight to expand children's health care

(Host)
Congressman
Peter Welch says supporters of a popular federal health care program for
children must continue to fight for its expansion.

That's even though the U.S. House failed
(this/Thursday) afternoon to override President Bush's veto of the proposal.

VPR's Bob Kinzel reports.

(Kinzel) In many respects, the battle between Congress and
the White House over this issue is a debate over who should be eligible for
health care services through a program known as S-CHIP.

President Bush argues that it's a program designed to provide health coverage to low-income
children.

The administration would like to set income eligibility
levels at 200% of the federal poverty level - or roughly $42,000 for a family
of four.

But a number of states, including Vermont,
have set the income level at 300% of poverty - or about $61,000 a year for a
family of four.

The legislation that the President vetoed would have
allocated an additional $7 billion a year for the next five years to help
states expand their programs.

Congressman Welch says he disagrees with the basic premise
of the President's argument.

(Welch) "The
President, I think, is flat-out wrong on that. This would go up to about 300%
of poverty, which is what we're already doing in Vermont and many other states are doing. And I
think we're seeing the reality that families - where you've got a husband and
wife who are both working, they've got acouple of kids, they can't afford health care - I mean a lot of those
working families - now they're the ones losing access to health care."

(Kinzel) Ten states also use S-CHIP money to provide
coverage to low-income adults as a way to encourage these families to enroll
their children in the program.

The President strongly opposes this approach.

Welch doesn't and says that the bill actually phases out
coverage for most parents. The only adults left eligible would be pregnant
women.

(Welch) "I am
actually in favor of doing whatever we can to get all our citizens covered by
health care."

(Kinzel) Congressional leaders will now try to negotiate a
compromise with the White House.

Welch says it would be wrong to make too many concessions.

(Welch) "You
know what one of the frustrations that the American people have with Congress
is they have a perception that Congress won't take a stand even when Congress
is right. My view: We take a stand. We send him back the same bill. I mean, if
we can adjust a little language here and there, that's fine. Reach out to
people who want to get on the right side of this. But we can't be compromising
on the number of kids we'vealready
covered."

(Kinzel) In the short term, the failure to authorize a new
S-CHIP program won't impact the number of children who are covered in Vermont.

The Douglas administration says it
has enough surplus money available in its overall Medicaid budget to ensure
that no children are dropped from the program.